Jakarta, IO – The public was shocked by the alleged leak of hundreds of millions of population register data held by the Home Ministry’s Population and Civil Registration directorate general (Dukcapil). The data of 337 million people is allegedly sold on the internet.
The findings were originally revealed by a Twitter user @secgron which belongs to Teguh Aprianto, the founder of the Ethical Hacker. He describes the alleged leak to include name, identification number (NIK), address, date of birth to data of parents, per detikcom, Tuesday (18/7).
Regarding these findings, the Home Ministry’s head of information Benny Irwan said the data in circulation does not match the existing format.
However, he said the Home Ministry will further investigate the matter in collaboration with the National Cyber and Encryption Agency (BSSN) and the Communications and Information Ministry (Kominfo).
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A cybersecurity expert from CISSREC Pratama Persadha said the data leak was a major crime that has be investigated and prosecuted immediately. He linked the incident to the impending elections. According to him, the stolen data can be misused by shady actors.
“What’s even more dangerous is that this data, combined with SIM card data and other data, can be used to gain advantage in the campaigns ahead of the 2024 elections,” said Pratama. (un)